Dressing in Traditional West African Wardrobe

A public profile picture of Zach Hill wearing a dashiki, a traditional garment worn in various parts of West Africa. Dashikis are known for their vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and loose fit, often symbolizing pride in African heritage. He is also wearing a hat with gold embroidery, likely a kufi, another traditional headpiece that holds cultural significance in different African regions.

Response from Austin Craft Brewing Company Owners:
Mrs. Hill stated that they are proud to represent a heritage that they have familiarity with and highly respect. She was clear that they strongly believe there is nothing wrong with respectful dress in support of a culture.

Additional Comments from Mr. Hill are available in the email reply at the bottom of this article.

Turnover and Staff Treatment

Turnover Rate at the Brewery

Our team had been notified and has corroborated through other sources that there has been a fairly high level of turnover, specifically with FOH employees. The explanation and implication from people close to the situation is that this was due to a difficult work environment, specifically related to tactics resembling bullying, ongoing threats of litigation against staff, and concerns related to some of the other items outlined in this article.

Response from Austin Craft Brewing Company Owners:
Mrs. Hill conceded that there has been some turnover and chalked it up to growing pains of a new business and the nature of the craft beer industry in general.

Environment of Intimidation and Paranoia

The other major theme that we corroborated through several sources were concerns around specific business management practices that seemed atypical or out of the normal expectation for industry workers. These included:

• Excessive Surveillance – not atypical at any business, but the feeling from people we spoke with was that there were more than any normal amount and that the intent felt less about protection of assets and more about evaluation of staff habits.

• NDAs – all employees were requested to sign NDAs, though several refused and it was dropped as a requirement for employment.

• Litigation Threats – Craft Beer Austin heard from sources that, despite the lack of an NDA, team members were still often told that anything disparaging that comes out against the brewery would open them up to litigation.

• “Always-on” Communication – indications here were around an expectation that employees should respond anytime the owner requested, regardless of work hours. Slack messages or texts might come in the very early hours of the morning or late at night; well after a person’s shift or the breweries business hours.